Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat blamed poor decision-making for their loss to Sydney FC, and remains focussed on making up the 11-point gap between his side and Premiership favourites the Sky Blues.
Sydney FC made a statement of clear intent by seeing off their nearest rivals to sit 11 points ahead at the top of the league.
In many pundits’ eyes, Sydney FC are a certainty to win the Premiership trophy with 10 rounds left.
But Muscat saw plenty in his team’s display to encourage him – though individual errors are giving him a huge headache right now.
WRAP: 10-man Victory beaten in Big Blue
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“It’s our own doing if we were,” he said when asked if his side deserved to lose.
“I’m not walking away from tonight terrified whatsoever.
“I will never give up trying to catch them,” he said of Sydney FC.
“We haven’t been opened up tonight. We haven’t been out-passed or outplayed.
“I was really happy with the football we played.”
Muscat added he felt his side created more chances than Sydney FC when they went down to ten men after the James Donachie red card.
“We scored a very, very good goal but it’s disappointing at the moment that we’re making some decisions defensively that are resulting in goals.”
Victory took the lead early but succumbed to Sydney FC’s sheer will to win and hard work off the ball, losing 2-1.
Sydney FC’s equaliser came from poor marking in the second phase from a corner that was cleared.
And the winner came when Bernie Ibini simply bullocked his way past some limp defence that didn’t deal with a route-one ball.
“We’re going to have to eliminate these errors that result in goals because they’re soft,” added a frustrated Muscat.
“Maybe we could be slightly fresher but it didn’t affect the outcome of the game,” he added.
Victory next face their cross-town rivals City in the Melbourne Derby on February 4.
